Emily & Chris

First comes middle school, then comes marriage? Emily and Chris officially met in Cookeville, Tennessee in Mrs. Cox's 6th grade class. On the first day of school, they were asked to say a fun fact, and Chris impressively showed that he could rotate his arm all the way around. And Emily was hooked. Just kidding. Emily and Chris were neighbors but became close friends in the spring of 2011, when they started walking or riding their bikes to school together. There was a group of about 6-8 kids that would walk or ride from the neighborhood, which was nestled about a mile from the middle school. Chris and Emily were always together, whether in class, running around the yard, catching lightning bugs, performing in the school talent show, feeding marshmallows to Holly (Emily's childhood dog), etc. Emily even got a guitar just so Chris could teach her how to play. No matter the occasion, one thing was always constant - it was the two of them.

Emily moved to the small town of Martin, Tennessee the summer before 8th grade. It was four whole hours away from Cookeville, and the two of them were devastated. Luckily, her friends made a huge effort to stay in touch that year. A big group of friends from Cookeville even took a road trip to visit during Christmas break. Emily hosted a "dance" in the pool house to 1) to hang out with everyone and get dressed up and 2) in hopes that Chris would *maybe* slow dance with her. He did!

Emily and Chris stayed in touch over the years and visited when they could. Chris visited Emily for her Sweet 16. Emily visited Chris and helped name his new (old) Jeep, "Scout". Their senior year of high school, Emily went to celebrate Chris's accomplishment at his Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Despite the life changes and other relationships, the two remained close and it always felt easy to "pick up where they left off" any time they would visit. While messaging back and forth one day, Chris discovered that Emily had just gone through a break-up in the weeks leading up to her senior prom. He asked to be her date, then borrowed his mom's car (since the Jeep couldn't make the trip) and drove 4 hours to take Emily to the dance. They both had a fantastic weekend, but to everyone's surprise, they still did not begin dating!

Chris went off to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in the fall of that year. Emily, to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The two would meet up in the middle occasionally to catch up with each other. Emily invited Chris to her Kappa Delta semi-formal sophomore year of college. Chris asked Emily to his Myrtle Beach Pike Formal... but after much internal debate, she could not attend due to prior arrangements. So, what sparked them to finally get together?

The summer going into junior year of college, Emily was passing through Knoxville with her dad on a business trip. Chris picked her up in the old Jeep (still running strong) and they explored the city together for an afternoon, just as they had done countless times. They took a picture together and Chris changed his profile picture on Facebook...which sent Emily and her friends spinning about what he must have meant by it... After all, they have history! (When asked later, Chris said, "I just thought it was a really nice picture!"). Chris invited Emily to a white water rafting trip with his family and they all created a whole new set of memories. But it wasn't until that fall that things really changed! The following months, they went to a few Vols games at Neyland Stadium. Tailgates, date parties, the whole SEC experience. Emily went with Chris to his fraternity semi-formal in November. To end the weekend, finally, THEIR FIRST KISS! A few weeks later, the question that everyone had been wondering was asked. "What are we doing here?". Chris asked Emily to date, and confetti rained from the sky! Okay that part could be an exaggeration, but the rest was history.

The couple started out long distance from Knoxville to Chattanooga. Then even more long distance from Knoxville to Tuscaloosa, when Emily went to grad school (looks like it was finally time for Chris to get a road trip car). These days, the two reside in Lexington, Kentucky, where they have started their life together in the Bluegrass State. Chris is a nurse in the Emergency Department at the same hospital where Emily was born (talk about full circle!). Emily works as a Senior Account Manager at a marketing agency in downtown Lexington, right across the street from Triangle Park (where they got engaged) and Rupp Arena. They enjoy having friends and family come to Lexington for the horse races at Keeneland Race Track every April and October and are always shocked at how much snow they get in the winters this far north!

Chris had been planning this proposal for months. He decided to propose at Triangle Park in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, just across the street from Emily's office. He started inviting Emily to lunch once or twice a week beginning in August, to make the spot even more special to the two of them. Triangle Park has a cascading fountain that spans the whole length of the park, which made the perfect spot to pop the question. After many lunch dates in that exact spot, it became clear that the city was beginning to set up the outdoor ice skating rink and Christmas tree (in early October...) This became a big problem for Chris, as it seemed to be an indicator that the fountain would be turning off for the winter soon. Based on his calculations, it was not supposed to turn off until the end of the month. At this point, he asked around and got the phone number for a parks and recreation board member (just in case he had to convince them to turn the fountain back on for an hour or two). The whole Sheets family came into town the following weekend for the Vols vs UK football game. Emily worked late that Friday night, and the family got together to come up with a plan. Chris's sister Sarah and her husband Alex would go to brunch with Chris and Emily on Sunday, before they had to leave town and drive back home. On Sunday morning, Chris parked the car downtown and they walked to the cafe, taking the back street to go inside. The restaurant had a string quartet playing music (totally a coincidence, and Chris couldn't believe he didn't have to pay extra for that). As they walked back to the car, Chris ensured they took Main Street so that they would have to walk within eyesight of Triangle Park. At that moment Emily thought she had the idea to show off their lunch picnic spot, not knowing that was the plan all along. Of course, Chris just went right along with that idea! As they rounded the corner and reached their picnic table, he got down on one knee and asked Emily to marry him. She said yes! The sun peeked through the clouds for about 20 minutes (the only time it was sunny that day), which gave them just enough time to take lots of pictures. They spent the rest of the afternoon calling friends and family, and smiling with each other until their cheeks hurt. Fun Fact: Emily's dad tried to propose to her mom at the same park in December of 1991, but the fountains were off! So he had to find a similar park in downtown Lexington. If only he had that board member's phone number...